Forming a cluster of three schools
Working in a school cluster might be familiar to you, or a completely new concept.

			it has large potential to widen the horizons of students and teachers and draw in families and the local community
			it's a great opportunity to share good practice within your own country and abroad
			working in clusters helps to ensure sustainability of a project / partnership.

			What do you hope to achieve in the partnership?
			What do you hope will be the benefits of working in a cluster or family of schools? What may be the challenges?
			How will you decide on a vision for your cluster partnership?
			What are the aims of your proposed cluster partnership? Consider making some short-term achievable goals to maintain and extend interest as well as more long-term ambitious goals. These aims will also need to be agreed by all the partner schools involved.
			What are the expectations of each school in the proposed cluster and how will you ensure each school contributes equally?
			Do you hope that this cluster partnership will last beyond the three years for which funding is available?  If yes, you will need to think about this before the end of the three year period.

			ensure you have the support of the head teachers/principals of all schools involved
			explore how the partnership will fit within your plans for the schools' development
			think about who will be involved in your schools. To help you decide, gather information about staff, student and community interest and about skills and expertise that can be drawn on and how each would like to be involved. Others e.g. governors could also become involved in the partnership.
			if you are a UK school, contact your local authority, particularly if you need help in forming a cluster with 2 other UK schools
			find out about other partnerships already operating in the local area, how active they are, what purposes they are serving and what kind of activities have gone on previously. Again, your local authority may be able to help with this
			identify areas of the curriculum which could offer opportunities for joint projects with your partner schools
			think about how your cluster will communicate effectively
			nominate a lead school and contact teacher for each school.

How are Connecting Classrooms partnerships formed?
If your cluster is accepted onto the programme, you will then be invited to attend a contact seminar in the UK or in one of the participating African countries. Only one person will represent each cluster, so you need to choose someone who will represent the needs of the cluster as a whole. By the end of the seminar, you will have formed your partnership and started planning your project, and in particular, the first year of activities.